SHANE JONES AT 12???

Shane's lack of elevation in the latest line up of Labour's shadow cabinet has the Kumara vine all a twitter. He was once seen as the great brown hope. but he remains mired at number 12.
He did himself no favours over the shower issue either and three years on the opposition benches will bore him shitless.
We also wonder if his lack of elevation past number 12 has anything to do with TGIF tonight and more on the immigration scandal. Of all the stories that Wishart has done - this is the one that has the most legs.

Shane Jones and Dover in deep poop.

There is more than a faint odour of "fish de rotten" around the Bill Liu/ Shane Jones , Dover Samuels story. The Herald has picked up on Wisharts expose which makes for interesting reading you can get here at TGIF

We knew the story had legs when fishing sources rang us the night the story broke and said there was merit in further investigation.

There are links to NZ's trade in live fish we understand as well.

So expect much much more from this story over the next couple of weeks...

WISHARTS IMMIGRATION SCANDAL SPOOKS GOVERNMENT

TGIF
has a interesting yarn about an immigrant who seems to have more identities than I have had paua patties.

The guts of the story is that Yang Liu has a few passports and lots of money and may have donated to the Labour partyand has already been prosecuted in Australia for money offences.

It appears that the Labour party have frequent fundraising parties at Jade Restaurant in Auckland. ( bloody good restuarant by the way )

A Labour candidate Raymond Huo thought Yang was a bit shifty.

Barker has issued a press release saying an investigation is underway into Yang Liu.

Shane Jones in involved as filled in for Barker because he had a conflict of interest.

And Dover Samuels is up to eyeballs in the scandal.


From TGIF

The businessman goes in this country by the

name Yang (Bill) Liu. Property records reveal he

lives in a plush Metropolis apartment in central

Auckland with a 2005 valuation of $2.4 million.

According to official certificate of title records, Yang

Liu paid cash in 2002 – there is no mortgage registered

against the property.

Records show Liu also owns a property in the

Auckland suburb of Bayswater for which he paid

$5 million early last year – again, in cash.

“Yongming Yan, a citizen of the People’s Republic

of China, was wanted by law enforcement authorities

of China for alleged large-scale misappropriation

and embezzlement offences committed in

China. Yan travelled to Australia on a number of

occasions, first as Yan, and later under the name

‘Yang Liu’.

“On these later occasions Yan is alleged to have

produced a Chinese passport in the name ‘Yang

Liu’, and failed to advise Australian immigration

officials that he had previously travelled to and

entered Australia in the name ‘Yongming Yan’.

TGIF says that the Commonwealth Department of Prosecutions DPP in Australia seized over $3M and gave it back to China.

And that all this happened while he was here in NZ as a permanent resident.

“I personally know Mr Liu,” begins Samuels, naming

Liu’s partner and “two young children” before

continuing:

“Mr Liu has Permanent Residence and has lived

in Auckland for six years or more. During the years

that I have known him he has demonstrated to be

a caring father and husband, with humility and

generosity of spirit.

“It is my understanding and confirmed by many

New Zealand Chinese, that Bill is a decent law abiding

person and would make a model New Zealand

citizen. I agree with them.

“Mr Liu is well known for his public profile, his advocacy

of open democracy, social justice and Human

Rights,” waxed Dover Samuels, “the same principles

that make us proud to be New Zealanders.”

Then, in the only clue that Samuels knew of

darker allegations swirling around his protégé Yang

Liu, he wrote, “Unfortunately, there are those who

think otherwise.

Immigration officials suggested to Liu that he had a problem because he had been red flagged by Interpol

They suggested that one option was to get the Minister to sort it.


TGIFs " informant" says that Liu claimed to have donated to the Labour party at Jade House.

Our informant added tonight: “This is not the

first one. The fact is that Mr Liu is unable to meet

the “good character requirement” of the Citizenship

Act. He was only approved because he is a big donor

to the Labour party. He was also given an urgent

ceremony. This is worse than Philip Taito Field’s

story. You do not give a New Zealand passport to

dodgy people without a reason.”

Liu’s citizenship application was fast-tracked,

according to DIA sources: “Mr. Liu got his citizenship

on 11 August 2008 at a private ceremony in

Wellington officiated by Dover Samuels.”

Rick Barker was particularly evasive when questioned on the fact he was at a fundraiser at Jade

We asked Barker whether it was wise for a Minister

in his position to be hosting fundraisers within immigrant

communities whose members could require him

to determine their immigration status later.

“Can I come back to you on that?” Barker initially

responded.

And Shane Jones doesnt want to talk about this issue either, We wonder with Mr Liu's involvement in fisheries, that Jones may know Mr Liu as well.

And late last night Barker issued a press release - this from the ODT

Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker has flagged an investigation into the possibility of immigration fraud in the case of the granting of residency and citizenship to Auckland man Yang Liu.

Mr Barker made the statement last night in response to questions from the media about the circumstances in which Mr Liu, also known as Bill Liu, was granted residency and citizenship. .......

In Mr Liu's case, a decision was made by another minister and a general delegation to Mr Jones was in place.

There was an ongoing investigation into "the possibility of immigration fraud in this case", Mr Barker said.

He did not want to jeopardise this process and there would be no further comment from ministers, he said.

Mr Samuels said Mr Liu was a friend of his and had been in New Zealand for seven years.

There had been procrastination in giving Mr Liu citizenship, he said.

"He had a falling out with the Chinese Government.

''He's pro-democracy, some sort of supporter of Falun Gong, and he protested against this Chinese regime in New York.

''They're after him.

"His wife is a New Zealand citizen, his children are New Zealanders, he's never broken the law here, and I wrote a letter of support to the minister considering his application for citizenship."

Mr Samuels said his understanding was that the successful citizenship bid had "got up the nose" of Internal Affairs officials

So it looks like an interesting yarn and the evasiveness of Jones and Barker is not going to do them any favours.

WHAT HAS WISHART GOT?

We will know later this evening, it wont be pretty ,but it will be interesting... I subscribe so will post when it comes out.